Could've been
by queenofallthingsrandom
Summary: What if Naruto, Sasuke, and Itachi had met before the Uchiha massacre? How would things turn out? Just give it a chance, you've got nothing better to do.
1. Prologue

I own nothing. Do I even need to say it?

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"Introduce yourself. Tell me your names, likes, dislikes, hobbies, and dreams." Kakashi ordered his new students. "Pinky, you first!"

"I'm Sakura Haruno. I dislike Ino-pig and split ends. I like…" She glanced at Sasuke and started giggling and blushing, "My hobbies are…" she giggled again, "And my dream is…" she glanced over at Sasuke and blushed again.

"… creepy. Onto you, Uchiha!" Kakashi said.

"My name, as you already know, is Sasuke Uchiha. I like my brother and tomatoes, I dislike traitors, liars, and people who pretend care about others. My hobbies aren't as important as my dream, which is to kill the killer of my clan, and find out why he left me, my brother, and my mom alive." Sasuke explained.

"Who was the killer?" Sakura asked.

"Sakura, I don't think that he wants to talk about that." Kakashi told her.

"It's fine." Sasuke cut in. "His name was Naruto Uzumaki."

"I've never heard of him." Sakura muttered.

"He used to live in Konoha, and he was like a brother to me. He left the village."

"Okay, onto you, redhead!"

"I'm Sabaku no Gaara. I came here from the sand village after meeting someone from here. I like the person that convinced me to leave my village, and I dislike my father. I don't really have a hobby, and my dream is to meet my hero."

"Lovely. Meet me at the training grounds at six. You aren't genin yet. You need to prove that you can handle this kind of life, and if you pass my test, you will be a strong team one day. Don't eat breakfast, you'll only throw it back up." And with that, Kakashi shunshined away.

"So, when did you move to Konoha?" Sakura asked.

"Five years ago. See you guys tomorrow." Gaara said, before walking away.

Sakura turned to Sasuke.

"Sasuke, do you wanna go-"

"No."

Sasuke walked away from her, too.

* * *

Far away, a cloaked figure stood watching.

"We really should go." A feminine figure said to the leader, putting a hand on his shoulder.

"I know. There's something I need to do first, though. I'll meet up with you later."

She nodded and led the rest of the group to the gates of Konoha.

The last cloaked figure headed towards the Uchiha district.

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Author's note: I just rewrote this entire chapter, and now I have to redo everything else. This is just perfect.

Review, favorite, and follow. Looking at my other stories wouldn't kill you, either.


	2. Guilty

I still don't own Naruto.

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Itachi sensed his chakra signature a mile away. He waited until it got close to him to act.

"You could've knocked."

The cloaked figure in front of him just smirked.

"Not to be rude, but why are you here? You could be killed."

"I decided to pay you a visit. Aren't you happy I stopped by?" He asked mock hurt lacing his words.

"Naruto, if anyone else finds you, they will kill you. My opinion has nothing to do with it, so you need to leave."

The figure threw the cloak off revealing tan skin and golden bond hair.

"Um… No. I want to stay here." He said.

Itachi sighed. "We both know that you can't, even if you want to."

"I think I can. I have tons of information on threats and tons of other important stuff. If they don't agree to my simple terms, I'll withhold the information and they'll be destroyed. You'd be surprised at how many people want Konoha destroyed. Like, there are HUNDREDS of threats that you wouldn't even think of."

"Even if they let you stay here just to get information out of you, how do you know that they won't kill you after they have all of the information?"

"I plan on making a deal with the hokage."

"After what you did, earning their trust is impossible."

"All I need is the trust of the hokage. The rest of them don't really matter."

"I'm assuming that you haven't spoken to the Sandaime yet."

"Correct."

"So why did you come here? Again, everyone who sees you will try to kill you. Go and make the deal before someone sees you."

"Okay! I was only trying to be nice and tell you first!" He muttered, pulling his cloak back on.

He shunshined away just as the door opened.

"I'm home, Itachi!"

"Sasuke, what do you feel towards Naruto?"

The younger Uchiha froze.

"I hate him. He needs to pay for what he did. Where is this coming from, Itachi?"

"Curiostity."

Sasuke narrowed his eyes, but let the topic go.

(Sasuke POV)

Whenever I say anything about getting revenge on Naruto, Itachi always, ALWAYS, tells me that 'there are things I don't know about what happened that night', and 'revenge won't achieve anything.' Now he's just curious? Something isn't right here.

I sensed two chakra signatures here right before I came in, but I couldn't make out who was with Itachi. I need to find out what's going on…

* * *

(Naruto POV)

All I have to do is sneak up on this village's strongest ninja. I'm going to die. If he does agree, though, what will I do? I mean, I'll try to earn their trust, but Sasuke will probably try to kill me… a lot. Oh, well. I'll cross that bridge when I get to it.

I think I'll just walk into his office. I'll need my team's help to take care of anyone who gets in the way. They'll be on their way as soon as they hear the explosions.

(Konan POV)

Naruto was supposed to meet us here… so where the heck is he?

There was a loud noise, and I turned to see smoke rising from the hokage tower. That could only be Naruto. What the hell was he doing?

I looked over at the other members of our group. "We have to get to him before he gets himself killed." I ordered.

We were printing towards the source of the smoke, and we saw a figure standing there, waiting.

"You took a long time. I was waiting forever." That was Naruto's voice.

"Freaking brat." I muttered. He led us towards the homage's office, letting us fight off all of the attackers on the way.

He kicked the door down, revealing the Sandiame, and walked straight up to his desk.

"Hey jiji! I think it's time for us to talk!"

* * *

Author's note: Ignore the crappy writing and cheesy dialogue! Pay attention to the plot! I'm way too lazy to try and make the characters realistic.  
Please review, favorite, and follow. Check out my other stories, too!


	3. Flashback time

Author's note: I wonder why no one's read or reviewed this fic… I know! Earth was destroyed and I didn't notice that I'm the only one left! That's the only explanation…

* * *

 _Itachi was lying on a grassy hill with his eyes closed when Naruto found him. He silently sat down next to the older Uchiha. After about 20 minutes , Naruto broke the silence._

 _"What's wrong with you?" he asked._

 _Itachi looked over at Naruto, and, after a minute passed, answered, "I'm not sure you should know."_

 _"Why not?" Naruto questioned childishly._

 _"I might have to kill you if I tell you."_

 _"Just tell me. If it's bothering you, then spit it out. There's no reason I can't know about it. It's not like there's anyone I could tell." The blonde proposed._

 _After staring at the child for a second, Itachi nodded, "Fine."_

 _"Before I start, though, promise not to interrupt at any point." The raven said, as Naruto nodded._

 _"Good. My clan and the council members didn't trust each other. The constantly spied on each other to make sure that the other wasn't plotting against them. I was ordered by my clan to spy on Konoha and tell them what the council was planning. My fellow clan members didn't know was that I remained loyal to Konoha, and I told them of the Uchihas' plans. Not too long ago, they began plotting to take over Konoha. Naturally, the council wouldn't let that happen. If their plans succeeded, it would start an all out war, and the end result would be thousands of deaths. The solution that Konoha came up with, to avoid the war and save lives, was destroy the Uchihas. While people would still die, it wouldn't cost nearly as many lives as the war that would happen otherwise." Itachi explained._

 _He paused trying to phrase the next part delicately. "I was ordered to carry out the massacre."_

 _Naruto stared at the Uchiha. After moments of silence, Naruto finally spoke._

 _"I have a plan. It'll be really annoying, but you won't have to leave the village, you can stay with your brother, and it result in a huge war."_

 _After explaining the details of what he_ _had planned, Itachi reluctantly agreed._

 _"Why are you doing this?" Itachi_ _wondered._

 _"You deserve to stay with your brother. You two need to stay together, and I'll do anything to stop you from hating each other. Besides, if you did this, then both of you would turn all depressing and boring."_

 _Itachi stared at the young boy._

 _"You'll be giving up any life you could've had in this village."_

 _"Yeah. I'm sure that I would've been so happy living here. "_

He didn't have to give up anything, though.


	4. Arrival

Author's note: I know that I'm impatient, but I really want someone to review, even if someone just wrote the word 'bad' and spelled it with a 'w'. I want reviews, and I'll act like a brat until I get them. Maybe I would write better if I wasn't being starved of reviews.

I own nothing.

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(Naruto POV)

His office was really easy to find. I kicked the door down and was met with a wide eyed Sandaime and an angry looking council member.

"Hey, jiji! We need to have a talk!"

"How dare you break in here! Just who do you think you are? I will not stand for-" The council member was walking towards me.

I held a hand over his mouth.

"Calm down. Stress will only lead to an early death. Now, I need to talk to the Hokage without you. I'm sure that he'll be fine without your scrawny ass here." I commented.

My companion grabbed him by his robes and threw him out of the room, closing the door loudly behind him. As soon as he was gone, I ditched the cloak.

"Do you remember me, jiji?"

"N-Naruto?" He called out, completely in shock. That's right. Shocked by my amazingness.

"That's me."

"Why are you here? What do you want?" He asked, sounding almost… afraid?

That. Is. Hilarious. He sees me as a threat to Konoha! If this wasn't such a bad time for it, I would be laughing my head off.

"I'm not here to act against Konoha if that's what you think." I said, making him relax slightly.

"I'm here to become a Konoha ninja." I continued. His eyes widened. I bet he didn't see that coming.

"Why?" he spluttered.

"Well, I have a goal. And in order to achieve that goal, being one of Konoha's guard dogs is necessary. Oh, and my friends here would also like to stay join the ninja ranks, if at all possible." I added thoughtfully, pointing to the three people behind me.

"Naruto, I can't let you back into Konoha. The council simply won't allow it, after what you've done. I'm not sure that _I_ would, if the decision was mine." he said shaking his head.

Well, no one can say that I didn't try to be nice about it.

"Whatever crimes I've committed, you will let me back into Konoha." It came out as more of a threat than a demand.

"I think not. You murdered the Uchiha clan." Two of my 'loyal companions' backed away slightly, almost as if they were shocked. So much for an emotionless mask.

"We both know full well that you would've made that happen anyway." I muttered bitterly. The third flinched away from me and avoided eye contact. Again, I wonder what happens to the emotional masks ninja are supposed to always have in place.

"Anyway, I'm not asking for forgiveness, I'm saying that I have leverage. I have important information on the 'legendary' sannin, your beloved students, and many other threats to Konoha that you're most likely oblivious to." I said with a smile.

"What information?"

"I'll tell you when you make me and my friends, I don't know, jounin."

"I can't do that! No matter what information you have-"

"The Sound and Sand villages are planning an attack on Konoha in less than two years. I don't know an exact date, but they've formed an alliance against you."

"W-What?"

"Yeah, and they're not even close to being the biggest threat. Now, if you want the rest of this information, you'll have to give me something. It's the only way you'll get me to tell you anything."

Hokage-jiji sighed. "The best I could do is make you genin. Even that is pushing it. You may even have to go to the academy."

That can't happen. I need to have one jounin with me, I can't exactly turn around and trust some random ninjaI don't know.

"How about a compromise… " I said, walking closer to him, "One of my lovely assistants here is at least Jounin level. Test his abilities. You could make me and my friends one team. He could be the sensei, and the rest of us will be the adorable genin. However, going back to the academy doesn't work for me. Not to be picky, but there's no way I can do that. If you want the information, you have to agree to my terms."

He just stared at me for a minute.

"Naruto, you have to understand, this will be difficult for me. Even as Hokage-"

I didn't let him finish. "That information is vital to your village's safety."

"But even as Hokage, the council could overrule my demands-"

"Torture won't work. This information was very hard to get my hands on, and I won't give it up that easily."

"You committed heinous acts against-"

"Mind-body transfer won't work, either. I have seals set up in addition to Kyuubi's help. You'll never get the information unless I tell you."

"Is there anything else that you could-"

"What I _want_ is to be a Konoha nin with people I trust at my side. Anything else falls short of what's necessary to get what you need from me."

"I'll do what I can." he said, finally giving up on arguing with me.

I stood up and started to walk away.

"Good. I trust you, jiji."

I didn't add on the part where I was basically blackmailing a village into accepting me. It would've made me feel like the bad guy here.

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Author's note: Someone give me another fandom to write a fic on. I need more to do. Seriously, I'm open to any fandom, and any pairing.

Review, favorite, and follow please! I have other stories you could check out, too…


	5. Chapter 5

Author's note: I have yet to actually update anything in this story, but I completely rewrote all of the chapters, so give me a break.

I own nothing.

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(Sasuke POV)

Yesterday was exhausting.

 **Flashback Time!**

 _Kakashi-sensei was a bastard. His little bell test is impossible. He already got Sakura, and he wasn't even trying._

 _If I wanted to win, I'd need to go all out against him. Asfar as I can tell, Gaara hasn't attacked yet. I'll wait until he makes his move, and attack at the same time._

 _I found Kakashi in a clearing, right next to a lake. Gaara was already there. He got taken out rather easily, and I didn't have a chance to attack._

 _Instead, I walked out from my hiding place._

 _"I hope you'll put up more of a fight than the other two. You night be the only one to pass."_

 _I didn't get a bell. Sakura was tied up._

 _I wanted to kill our bastard sensei, but he was already gone. Gaara used his sand to untie Sakura, and I gave her the bento even though we were told not to._

 _We ended up passing the test, and Gaara revealed that he'd held back during the fight. he said that, most of the time, he keeps his true power hidden. Something to do with the konoha ninja he'd met._

 _We were genin now, and the entire thing was some teamwork test._

 **Flashback** **end**

Today, there's some sort of celebration for all of the genin, and there's a new team joining us.

Everyone else was already there, except for this new team.

"Okay, I have news from the Hokage." Asuma yelled over the noise.

"The new team can't be here, but they wish for their names to be announced. The team's sensei is Zabuza Momochi. The genin are Konan, Haku Uzumaki, and Naruto Uzumaki."

I froze. Naruto… is in Konoha?

He's a dead man.

* * *

Author's note: My writing is just getting worse and worse… I'm not gonna stop… I'm having fun. The plot for this story is ok, in my opinion, but it could be written better. I've rewritten this story, and I still don't like it… I don't know. Tell me what you think.

Pretty please review, follow, and favorite. Read my other stories! I have a sebaciel one that I'm very proud of…


	6. Filler, Babe

Queen: been a long time, hasn't it?

DeadlySins: Fuck yeah. What the hell were you doing?

Queen: Sleeping.

* * *

(Naruto POV)

If the raging emo child running through the streets of Konoha is anything to go by, I'd say they've announced my team.

"Naruto... you know you need to talk to him." Haku walked up behind me on the hokage monument, trying to console me. Pf. I can't be consoled.

"Are you kidding me? That kid would try to scream me to death."

"You can't pretend that you don't care about him. I can see it in your eyes; his reaction hurts you." I don't know when silence became the international 'go on and give me a lecture about my emotions' sign, but Haku must've gotten the memo. "From what you've told me, you two used to be really close. You can't just forget that kind of relationship. Every relationship has obstacles to get over. Yours just happens to be especially difficult. Maybe it's because you're one of the few people who would actually be able to deal with an obstacle like the. Trust me, though, you need to talk to him."

"OK! I get it. I'll talk to the twerp! If I didn't know any better, I'd think you were working with the kid... trying to bore me to death like that."

I slid off the monument and landed in front of a very angry Sasuke.

"You fucking bastard! I'm gonna kill you!"(a/n Grade 'A' dialogue)

"I wouldn't if I were you."

"There's a lot of things you've done that you never would've considered if you were me, you worthless monster." He sounded bitter. Sasuke really needs to improve his attitude. It's hard to be nice to someone who's being bitter.

"No, I mean you'll be arrested if you make an attempt on my life. Seriously, I know you hate me, but you won't be able to kill me if you attack me now. Think it through. Wait till after marriage to kill me. Preserve the innocence."

"What the fuck is wrong with you?"

"A lot. Anyway, why don't you go back and talk to your team or your brother. Seriously, keeping things pent up will only age you. Wouldn't want to destroy your good looks stressing over little old me, now would you? Jesus, I don't know how I'd live with myself if I made a looker like you ugly."

He glared weakly at me before turning in defeat and walking back to where the genin teams were meeting.

"Poor little hormone filled guy." I whispered dramatically, shaking my head.

He stopped walking and froze about twenty feet away from me. I could see him clenching his fists at his sides.

"What gives you the right to just reappear in my life and act like you never left? Like you never killed them? Do you feel no remorse?" His voice came out hoarsely, and I could tell he was fighting tears.

I didn't answer him. What the hell am I suppose to say? 'Sorry, bro. We cool?' There's no way I can make up for my actions.

Not that I wanted to. You only can make for something if you regret it, and... let's just say that if I could undo my actions, I wouldn't. I don't wish I could go back in time to fix everything, I don't wish I had done things differently, and it's not a decision that haunts me to this day.

So why not be honest with the twerp?

"I feel no remorse. In fact, I can honestly say that I'm proud of my actions that night, though I must admit, I don't exactly feel pride towards the way my actions affected you."

I could see drops of 'water' hitting the ground next to him. So... In order to not feel like a jerk, I'll say I made him cry happy tears in remembrance of his family's massacre.

"Why did you do it? We took you in! We cared about you, and you turned around and slaughtered our clan!"

"Listen, there are things I can't tell you about that night-"

"That's what aniki says too! He says it all the time! Every time I tell him how much I want to avenge our clan and wipe you off the face of this planet, he says there are things I don't know. What the hell don't I know?!"

Once again, I fell silent. God, I hate silence.

"God, you won't even tell me, will you? After you _murdered my family,_ you won't even tell me why!"

"I did it because I wanted to." There. Not a lie, but not the whole truth. Just like my life, haha.

I heard him growl, and he seemed to be trying not to kill me. Aw. I can't have him doing that. I walked up behind him and wrapped my arms around his waist. "Come on. Talk to me, Sasu." He stiffened before physically throwing me off of him and running away.

Guess he doesn't want to play with me...

* * *

 _FLASHBACK_

 _(Itachi POV)_

 _I had to tell him. I can never keep anything from him, and I know that it was reckless, but... part of me wanted this solution. It's so messed up of me, but... I want him to do it instead of me. I don't want to have to do this to my family._

 _Despite the fact that I love Naruto like a brother, I'd still let him do this_ _for my sake._

 _Now, I just have to teach him how to unleash Kyuubi._

* * *

A/N: hehe... sorry? Uhm... In my defense, my computer sucks, so typing this took, like, an hour!

As for the other months it took me to update... fuck it, I'm irresponsible.


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